Miscellaneous mecha discussion thread

[ayase]

Franxxie Says Relax It's Time to Stop Episodes 10-12

Come on @João Gomes , I'm getting way too far out in front... I need backup here, there are Klaxosaurs about.

Spoiler

Oh my. I thought the world of the teenagers was repressed, looks like the world of adults is even worse. With them being kept apart from it, it was bound to go one of two ways, wasn't it? Either soulless puritanism or total hedonistic debauchery, but this now raises the question of what Dr. Franxx is up to, and it's my great hope now that he might be the hero this society needs and is attempting to undermine it by rekindling these forbidden passions in our protagonists. Poor Zorome. A nice bit of development for him, I don't think even he really believes he'll ever be allowed to become an adult, but repeating the idea to himself seems to be what gives him the strength to carry on. It's his "this time next year, we'll be millionaires".

RIP Futoshi x Kokoro and their marriage that lasted... well I was going to laugh at how short a time it was between them promising to be together forever and Kokoro bailing, but that seems about average for western marriages now (probably longer than those involving celebrities). They did both seem very sweet and suited to each other, and I hope that Kokoro's admission that she "isn't the person people think she is" actually bears some fruit. Please, let's see this other side of her because at the moment she's not seeming a whole lot different.

Speaking of other sides... Zero Two went a whole lot quieter. Then a whole lot crazier. Don't get me wrong, I like the crazy (and would definitely be a lot more into being devoured, body and soul, by a feral Zero Two than Hiro is. Coward.) but that was all a bit out of nowhere. Hiro is her original Darling but neither of them remember, right? Is that too obvious to be true, or was it just way too telegraphed?

Oh, and we have a CHAR now...

As for your predictions, they're fascinating to read because they're a real-time take on the story as it's unfolding. You can decide for yourself whether you want to read this feedback on them or not, but I'll tell you that you're on the mark with one of them, and very much wide of it with the other, but I won't say which is which, obviously.

I mean, I could kinda infer what was going to be under the spoiler from what was outside of it, but never mind But I mean, they both wanted to pilot a Franxx with a same-sex partner (and we all know what that's an incredibly unsubtle metaphor for) and while Ikuno was disappointed that it didn't work when she actually tried it, Hiro promising Mitsuru that he would do it (nudge nudge) with him obviously meant a lot more to Mitsuru than it did to Hiro, and he was clearly affected by that rejection so... I really dunno. But I bet there were a lot of doujin artists scribbling away at this point in the show's original airing.

 

[João Gomes]

@ayase HOW. HOW HAVE YOU WATCHED HALF OF THIS THING.



Resident Evil won't play itself

Spoiler: Late as hell in the Franxxxxxxx

Anyway, yes, I have also made progress! I've now watched five episodes of Horny in the Franxx, which means I still can't read your first big post because it covers until the sixth, ayase! Aaaaargh.

Still liking it a lot. Goro is indeed best boy, the guy exudes chill vibes, which are some of my favorite vibes.

Hiro was starting to annoy me but then he got to pilot the Ev-the Strelitzia, so all is OK except he's gonna totally not die because it's only episode 5.

I mean, I still don't like him. He's way too goody goody and I don't have the patience for that any longer, but he's not what I'm interested in anyway, I want to know more about 02 and the world.

Yes, these were my miscellaneous ramblings thus far.

@Geriatric hedgehog



One of us
One of us
One of us
One of us

Do it.

Alright, let me stop the annoying gif spam and such before I get my account erased.

 

[Geriatric hedgehog]

Do it.

Ah man, you're not making this any easier!

I don't even know if I'll be able to catch up with @ayase at this rate though, need to distract him with something else!

Alright, let me stop the annoying gif spam and such before I get my account erased.

Please don't, those GIFs are hilarious!

 

[Girls with Guns]

So did they postpone or cancel a Franxx simulwatch or something, that you guys have gone rogue on tearing through the series seemingly in one week? I just recently picked up the Franxxing Blu-rays a couple months ago, and I have yet to see the series past episode 18 - you know, right before the series gets really good, lol...

 

[ayase]

So did they postpone or cancel a Franxx simulwatch or something, that you guys have gone rogue on tearing through the series seemingly in one week?

Well since you probably haven’t been reading the GL simulwatch thread... @Neil.T recommended it to @João Gomes , who promptly purchased it, which reminded me that it had been on my radar for some time as well. @Geriatric hedgehog then pointed out that it was in the 2 for £25 sale on Zavvi and I bought it as well. João immediately watched episode 1, pushing us into an arms race that I am now decidedly winning, but I mentioned that it was down as a simulwatch option at which point Neil said that wasn’t scheduled for nearly a year, and I’m not waiting that long.

@ayase HOW. HOW HAVE YOU WATCHED HALF OF THIS THING.

Hey, you started this! To be fair though, I haven’t been well these last couple of days so pretty much all I’ve been doing is laying in bed watching anime... I am trying to go at a reasonable pace, really! I’m even interspersing it with a rewatch of top tier supernatural girls doing ridiculous things show Renkin San-kyuu Magical? Pokaan (what did I rate that? A nine? Good, it stands) which it turns out was a really good idea so Franxx doesn’t actually drive me to drink.

 

[João Gomes]

Lol, I got into the spirit of things here with an avatar change...

herecomesanewchallenger.gif

Join us! We'll call ourselves "tom clancy's ANUK rogue simulwatchers or some such" ™ ®

---------

@Geriatric hedgehog as always with these things, I said to myself "may the forces of law and order f their persons" and just put Amagi and Clannad on standby (with two episodes left to finish Amagi; I don't have OCD but that bothers me. A LOT), you could do the same..... I'm just saiyan here

"Dost Thou wish to live deliciously?" is the question you must ask yourself...

---------

@ayase I hope you get better, but at least you sound like you're having fun with bedridden in the franxxxxx! Looking forward to being able to read your posts...

I can't intersperse this with anything seeing how late I am already... I'll probably watch a couple more today, putting me immediately behind you with like, a 300 episode difference

Quick edit with my impressions about episode 6 of Phoenix in the franxx

Spoiler

Great episode from start to finish. Lots of action, the conclusion of a little arc, signaling the beginning of things to come, mysterious new team teased and Hiro coming back from the dead, very surprising. Who asked for that, though. sigh, I'll give him a bit more time, I guess.

Hoping we'll get the explanation for what the veins are all about as well as his miraculous recovery sooner rather than later. Seeing 02 desperately clawing inside the mecha was kinda sad, feels like there's an incoming tragic backstory.

Funny that all the pairings are basically done for us, not a lot of room for shipping if they pilot the mecha together, odds are there's something happening in at least one of the sides, I guess?

Oh and I felt extremely stupid yesterday. I always asked myself "why the hell do the guys riding the mecha need the screen to communicate with their partners? Just talk to each other jeez" and only yesterday I came to the realization that the girls basically become the mechas, hence the faces and voices etc. Urgh, I'm dumb.

Enjoying this a great deal, curious for more!

 

[Neil.T]

I mean, I could kinda infer what was going to be under the spoiler from what was outside of it, but never mind

I admit that I might have gotten a bit carried away in trying to goad you into reading what was under the blur.

I thought it might be kinda fun to have you ponder which one of your hunches was correct.

This reminded me of a very poignant line from Horimiya, which I quite enjoyed recently. A character consoling his rejected friend and thinking:

"It only hurts more because nobody's in the wrong."

It really is a nice line, that, and it very much reflects how things are in real life. There's something I often say in real life to help rationalise conflict situations, and it's this: It's just a conflict of interests.

One person wants one thing, and someone else wants something different. And that's sometimes just how it is.

Sometimes it's fun to have clear-cut heroes and villains, but stories where characters have their own clashing beliefs in what's right are often the most interesting.

 

[Geriatric hedgehog]

Hey, you started this! To be fair though, I haven’t been well these last couple of days so pretty much all I’ve been doing is laying in bed watching anime... I am trying to go at a reasonable pace, really! I’m even interspersing it with a rewatch of top tier supernatural girls doing ridiculous things show Renkin San-kyuu Magical? Pokaan (what did I rate that? A nine? Good, it stands) which it turns out was a really good idea so Franxx doesn’t actually drive me to drink.

Ah that explains the manic pace. Hope you're feeling better (and at least you are able to use your time productively! I'm jealous...) and thanks for expanding my watchlist even further...

Lol, I got into the spirit of things here with an avatar change...

That's a brilliant avatar! Though I can't quite recall this scene from the anime hmmmm...

"Dost Thou wish to live deliciously?" is the question you must ask yourself...

Heheh I most certainly do and I was actually going to hop in (or is it on??) to the Franxx ride, but alas I'm just not getting the time and right now I'm raring to finish Danganronpa V3 (which is great so far btw, you'll love it if you haven't already played it (p.s. and you thought Nagito was bad...)) and now the Planetes simulwatch that I've been really looking forward to!

There's something I often say in real life to help rationalise conflict situations, and it's this: It's just a conflict of interests.

One person wants one thing, and someone else wants something different. And that's sometimes just how it is.

Sometimes it's fun to have clear-cut heroes and villains, but stories where characters have their own clashing beliefs in what's right are often the most interesting.

Varry true my friend, such is life and it certainly wouldn't be as interesting without that spice.

 

[ayase]

We put a Darling in your Franxx so you can Franxx in your Darling Episodes 13-15

Spoiler

I really can't help but feel that this would have worked better either if they had disguised the fact that Hiro was Zero Two's original darling (a lot) better, or if he simply hadn't been at all and they had approached this in a different way. It's all a bit too much true love and fate (neither of which I like as concepts, since they do rather p*ss on the idea people can’t always get what they want and actually have to work at/for things) for me. But I guess they had to find some way to make Hiro interesting, didn't they? And they went with back-story as a replacement for character development or personality, which is always a bit of a disappointment. But then I'm still wondering if he isn't purposely a bit of a blank audience avatar, which I think everybody is aware of my disdain for because they never act the way I would, so I don’t relate to them because they’re so dull. The first words out of my mouth upon having those memories returned would be "Zero Two! If you turn back into a literal demon, don't worry! I'll just be EVEN MORE turned on!"

Hiro can be forgiven for not knowing, since he was given Plot Convenient Amnesia Serum® ("Guaranteed to wear off at just the right moment!") but if Zero Two was still aware of these memories all this time HOW did she not recognise him? I know they were kids, but they must have been what, about 8-10 years old in the flashback? They're still only teenagers, appearances don't change THAT much. Certainly not faces.

Oh geez, I thought you were over Hiro by this point Ichigo? You're just bringing the pain for everyone now. And Goro is bringing the sense again. Ichigo and Zero Two are both a bit bi-polar as the plot demands, aren’t they? I mean I was just waiting for Zero Two to lay Ichigo the hell out throughout the entirety of episode 14, but it never came when I thought it would. And then Ichigo is pretty quick to let Hiro go (again) after clinging to him even stronger than before.

I've been quite impressed with the battle choreography so far in Franxx, but the power of love is making things decidedly endgame Lagann-ish now; point your drill spear at the enemy and yell hard enough and they just die, regardless of how big or where their weak points might be. Red Strelizia still looks cool as **** though. And what IS Dr. Franxx up to? What’s the Space Pope and pals up to for that matter? Stay tuned to find out, I guess. There's an infodump coming isn't there? I can feel it.

@ayase I hope you get better, but at least you sound like you're having fun with bedridden in the franxxxxx! Looking forward to being able to read your posts...

Ah that explains the manic pace. Hope you're feeling better (and at least you are able to use your time productively! I'm jealous...) and thanks for expanding my watchlist even further...

Thanks guys. It's not been the most enjoyable week from a health point of view honestly, but at least I've managed to watch/read plenty.

 

[Geriatric hedgehog]

We put a Darling in your Franxx so you can Franxx in your Darling Episodes 13-15

Spoiler

I really can't help but feel that this would have worked better either if they had disguised the fact that Hiro was Zero Two's original darling (a lot) better, or if he simply hadn't been at all and they had approached this in a different way. It's all a bit too much true love and fate (neither of which I like as concepts, since they do rather p*ss on the idea people can’t always get what they want and actually have to work at/for things) for me. But I guess they had to find some way to make Hiro interesting, didn't they? And they went with back-story as a replacement for character development or personality, which is always a bit of a disappointment. But then I'm still wondering if he isn't purposely a bit of a blank audience avatar, which I think everybody is aware of my disdain for because they never act the way I would, so I don’t relate to them because they’re so dull. The first words out of my mouth upon having those memories returned would be "Zero Two! If you turn back into a literal demon, don't worry! I'll just be EVEN MORE turned on!"

Hiro can be forgiven for not knowing, since he was given Plot Convenient Amnesia Serum® ("Guaranteed to wear off at just the right moment!") but if Zero Two was still aware of these memories all this time HOW did she not recognise him? I know they were kids, but they must have been what, about 8-10 years old in the flashback? They're still only teenagers, appearances don't change THAT much. Certainly not faces.

Oh geez, I thought you were over Hiro by this point Ichigo? You're just bringing the pain for everyone now. And Goro is bringing the sense again. Ichigo and Zero Two are both a bit bi-polar as the plot demands, aren’t they? I mean I was just waiting for Zero Two to lay Ichigo the hell out throughout the entirety of episode 14, but it never came when I thought it would. And then Ichigo is pretty quick to let Hiro go (again) after clinging to him even stronger than before.

I've been quite impressed with the battle choreography so far in Franxx, but the power of love is making things decidedly endgame Lagann-ish now; point your drill spear at the enemy and yell hard enough and they just die, regardless of how big or where their weak points might be. Red Strelizia still looks cool as **** though. And what IS Dr. Franxx up to? What’s the Space Pope and pals up to for that matter? Stay tuned to find out, I guess. There's an infodump coming isn't there? I can feel it.

Thanks guys. It's not been the most enjoyable week from a health point of view honestly, but at least I've managed to watch/read plenty.

Sorry dude, as nice as it is to have time to watch & read one's own stuff, feeling like crap kills the enjoyment; get well soon.

And characterless Hiro is certainly a weak point of the series but oddly I really liked the whole love story aspect here and later. Maybe I felt (or intrinsically desire) a level of honesty in their relationship there that allowed me to drop my cynic's guard. And I too wondered why on earth Zero Two is not happy reverting to the long-horned, red skin look as an adult! I'm guessing it means her brain goes feral too and does that have a role in her not remembering Hiro by appearance?

 

[ayase]

And characterless Hiro is certainly a weak point of the series but oddly I really liked the whole love story aspect here and later. Maybe I felt (or intrinsically desire) a level of honesty in their relationship there that allowed me to drop my cynic's guard.

Edited to place everything under a spoiler tag, because that got long.

Spoiler

Yeah, I feel like I get what it’s going for and I wish it was moving me, but it just isn’t (at least not at the moment). I wonder if that’s mainly because I still don’t really have a good sense of who Hiro is as a character (because he just isn’t a very good character) and I feel like I now have less sense of who Zero Two is as a character than I did previously, due to her unpredictable behaviour. Like, it was sad what happened in the flashback. But how relevant actually is any of that to what’s going on now? Did witnessing it really change anything, character or story wise? I’m not really sure.

Edit: Additional thoughts I woke up with this morning: I think for me, it’s a question of what did the flashback reveal that we didn’t already know? Both Zero Two and Hiro were pretty much the same as children as they are now. I was perhaps at least expecting some revelation that would challenge them or their feelings in some way. Without wishing to spoil Elfen Lied for anyone who hasn’t seen it yet, a similar flashback/recovered memories episode in that series is devastating because it turns one character’s perceptions of another completely on their head and challenges their relationship. What does this flashback actually do (other than perhaps make Hiro more perfect, because it turns out he didn’t actually forget or ignore Mitsuru’s feelings, he just had his memories removed)? These revelations don’t really change or challenge Zero Two, because she still doesn’t particularly care about anyone besides her original Darling (she just knows that it’s Hiro now) and they don’t change Hiro, because he has always been accepting of her no matter what.

Perhaps it could be argued it reawakened Hiro’s desire to be more questioning of the world around him, but because it was his own memories that did that rather than a result of anything Zero Two did, that doesn’t really strengthen their relationship. I feel like if one or both of them had done something unexpected in the flashback, like if Zero Two’s desire to become human had actually been born of little Hiro being terrified of or disgusted by her, or if little Zero Two had done something similarly bad to Hiro, there would have been room for some kind of forgiveness, reconciliation or growth, but there wasn’t.

 

[Neil.T]

This post is my response to ayase's covering episodes 13–15 of FranXX, partly spoiler-blurred.

I really can't help but feel that this would have worked better either if they had disguised the fact that Hiro was Zero Two's original darling (a lot) better, or if he simply hadn't been at all and they had approached this in a different way.

I seem to make a habit of this, but when I watched the show for the first time on Crunchyroll, I honestly didn't anticipate the reveal of the pair having met before. I must be imperceptive or something.

I have to hold my hand up and admit that I was one of the people originally disappointed by that turn of events in the story. I felt that it devalued what Hiro and Zero Two had found by changing it from being a story of a chance meeting into something orchestrated and preordained, out of their own hands — dare I even suggest contrived. But of course it's an integral part of the story that Darling in the FranXX couldn't exist without, so... you take it or leave it, I guess.

Now, though, for my own part, I feel differently about it after three full viewings and fully accept it for what it is as part of the series. Although having said that...

Hiro can be forgiven for not knowing, since he was given Plot Convenient Amnesia Serum®

... I'm not keen on brainwashing tropes; for me, it makes it far too easy to manipulate the characters. And the audience. It's just a bit too convenient.


And regarding Hiro as a character generally:

I'm still wondering if he isn't purposely a bit of a blank audience avatar

That's definitely how I see it. It's become pretty par for the course in anime now, I'm afraid. You don't want to drive your otaku audience away by confronting them with a male lead with a strong personality. I mean, imagine if their waifu of choice were to be stolen away from them by a guy who's nothing like they are.

And heaven forbid you'd give your audience an interesting leading male that they could perhaps learn something from.

 

[ayase]

Agreed on pretty much all counts there Neil, obviously you’re able to look at the show as a whole having seen it all and I’m not there yet, so opinions may be subject to change on some fronts, we’ll see how it goes.

It's become pretty par for the course in anime now, I'm afraid. You don't want to drive your otaku audience away by confronting them with a male lead with a strong personality. I mean, imagine if their waifu of choice were to be stolen away from them by a guy who's nothing like they are.

It’s actually a bit maddening, I don’t expect to understand how other people’s minds work, but for me it’s the complete opposite. I’d far rather see any girls I’m fond of get guys with some personality or who seem suited to them than a dull, too-perfect cardboard cut-out.

This is why Tokairin p*ssed me off in YUA, Natsumi is SUCH a strong character that for her to end up with such an automaton of a boyfriend seemed so utterly wrong. Doubly so because that wasn’t a problem present in the series previously, as Miyuki had Ken, who at least had flaws. I can describe Ken’s character, he’s painfully shy and easily embarrassed but also strong and principled and there for people when they need him. Tokairin... does cool stuff. Aside from that, he doesn’t have a character.

 

[Geriatric hedgehog]

And regarding Hiro as a character generally:
That's definitely how I see it. It's become pretty par for the course in anime now, I'm afraid. You don't want to drive your otaku audience away by confronting them with a male lead with a strong personality. I mean, imagine if their waifu of choice were to be stolen away from them by a guy who's nothing like they are.

And heaven forbid you'd give your audience an interesting leading male that they could perhaps learn something from.

Yeah I'll second that as it is certainly a significant shortcoming shared by most bland anime protagonists as non-threatening fill-ins, which really is a shame as the medium has such potential for promoting emotional growth with interesting characters to aspire to, rather than enduring a lack of self-respect & confidence in some of those it caters for with dullard stand-ins...

It’s actually a bit maddening, I don’t expect to understand how other people’s minds work, but for me it’s the complete opposite. I’d far rather see any girls I’m fond of get guys with some personality or who seem suited to them than a dull, too-perfect cardboard cut-out.

Exactly that, I would suspect that for most it's actually condescending to the viewer to imply their feeble egos can't handle being challenged & entertained by strong stand-in characters and only have the stomach for bland stand-ins succeeding with romantic interests conversely with strong personalities...

With regard to Franxx, as you said it's a bit tricky not recalling exact circumstances, if not simulwatching, whilst knowing the overall story. But I think like @Neil.T, repeat watches cemented my acceptance of the shortcomings in favour of the overall relationship of the protagonists. The recall episode I really liked as it was certainly a simple, but for me, effective confirmation of their love for each other and willingness to sacrifice for the other, which in turn is Zero Two's driving motivation thereon. Some exposition regarding the experiments on children & Hiro's treatment of Mitsurugi, coming as no surprise, and the whole amnesia plot device also uninspiring as is often the case, so not much to say on those. And you are spot on on Elfen Lied, and that is a very good example of a background episode done to devastating effectiveness.

 

[Geriatric hedgehog]

I'll try to jump in with Ayase once he gets to episode 18, I think that's the last episode I watched, although I was spoiled with the ending quite a bit online since that. Can't wait to see ayase's reaction to that, lol.

I worry he will end up the Franxx hate camp heheh, but hey one man's poison and all..

 

[João Gomes]

@Geriatric hedgehog getting that sweet D3 hype again, thank you!! Yeah, I put it on the side a bit with Resi and all, but I want to get back to the series!

@ayase you doing better, dude? I AM NOW ON THE SECOND DISC. TAKE THAT.

Just finished the episode of code 666 spending time with the lady. Still really liking this?

I'll come back rith further comments when I have a bit more time!

Oh yeah, the OP. I get a really bittersweet feel from it. I'm expecting a similar tone for the ending? Maybe reading too much into it, but that's the feeling I get. Great OP.

 

[Neil.T]

Just finished the episode of code 666 spending time with the lady.

On that subject, I've got an interesting graphic I found online set aside that I'll drop in here after you and ayase have finished the series. It explains how each of the Parasites' names relates to their code numbers.

Oh yeah, the OP. I get a really bittersweet feel from it. I'm expecting a similar tone for the ending? Maybe reading too much into it, but that's the feeling I get. Great OP.

That's definitely the feeling of it, yeah. The song was actually composed specifically for the show, so it aims to capture the feel the story in some way. You'll be getting a new OP after the halfway point that'll only ramp up the feeling of melancholy with the animation. Expect different lyrics, too.

I couldn't possibly comment on the tone of the series' ending.

 

[João Gomes]

Spoiler: Impressions for Surprisingly Emotional in the Franxx 10-13

This is going places. It was a good decision to put 02 in emo mode, let her cook (as well as our curiosity) and focus on the other team members a bit, coming back to her for good payoff.

I don't like that Mitsuru and Kokoro are a thing (I ship characters ok, sue me) because I like her partner but on the other hand he doesn't really have a personality, so I get it! That's not to say that the moments shared between Mitsuru and Kokoro were impactful, felt like a fair bit of melodrama "someone promised to ride a robot with me and forgot and so I'm scarred for life" and "I break promises because-ugh. I know, I know, I'm not in the target age for this thing.

Anyway, the way the kids are treated is disgusting and it's one of the things that intrigues me the most: knowing why the hell the kids have to protect the adults and not even be allowed in the city. F'ing animals.

Last episode I watched was the flashback. I still don't like Hiro but him helping 02 with tears in his eyes was powerful and the same thing happening in the cockpit hit me good. 02's look said it all.

Can't get enough of the sadness teased by this OP, love some emotional punishment

Just a couple more episodes until I can read the spoilered stuff so far You can tell I'm done with Resident Evil lol

Edit: @Neil.T looking forward to that graphic and kinda bummed that the OP's gonna go, but I'm curious about the new one! Thought it would be from 12 on, but not yet.

 

[ayase]

Franxx You For The Music - Return of the Playlist

Back to doing this on an episode-by-episode basis, I'm getting too damn wordy now and also I'm writing as I go rather than after multiple episodes. Might help @João Gomes catch up, I'm considering giving it a rest anyway so we can all experience these last few episodes together, especially if @Girls with Guns is joining us.

Spoiler: Episode 16

"Whatever happened to your wild side?" Yes, that's what I was thinking too, Miku. In fact, what even is Zero Two's character now? Okay, she’s been through both some serious traumas and found some great joy and if that's manifesting as some sort of genuine bi-polar behaviour then fair enough, but there doesn’t seem to be nearly enough indication that is actually the case. So as a result her personality swings just seem extremely out of place, especially given the events of the past few episodes.

But then Zero Two isn't the only one exhibiting wild mood swings. Consider my expectations subverted in this particular instance, Franxx, because if there was one thing I wasn't expecting at this point in the show, it was slice of life. The kids are on their own now with no supervision. This would be the perfect opportunity to do what Zero Two and Hiro have now both said they wanted and run off together; there'd be literally no-one to stop them right now. Or even better, now Hiro has his memories back he and Zero Two could make everyone else aware of all the vile crap that their overlords engage in, and either get them to come along too or even ROW ROW FIGHT THE POWER. You guys are the ones with the weapons and the ability to pilot them, here. But what are you doing instead? Laundry. "When did I stop asking questions?" said Hiro, only a couple of episodes ago. The better question now might be why have you still not started again? Why are you sitting around giving each other haircuts and baking bread instead of addressing the fact that your beloved leaders are child-torturing sickos who you have literally just witnessed use not only fellow parasites but the populations of entire cities as suicide bombers? This isn't troubling any of you? At all? No, the emotional height of the episode appears to be Zorome's sudden concern for Futoshi's out-of-the blue eating disorder. What?

Taken on its own, I don't even dislike this episode. I quite enjoy SoL and just watching characters go about their lives for a while and getting more of a feel for them as characters. But in context, why on earth was it placed here of all places? Wouldn't about half a dozen episodes ago have been the perfect time for something like this, rather than now?

Spoiler: Episode 17

It does feel an awful lot to me like Kokoro has just Stockholmed a homosexual Mitsuru into loving her (not that that sort of thing doesn't happen in real relationships, I suppose) without him actually understanding what love means and just trusting in her baby-making manual to have the right answers. If that wasn't the intended reading of this sequence of events, I'd be hard pushed to find another that makes a whole lot of sense from what I've seen. I'm not the only one who thought that, am I? He did seem to have a fairly obvious crush on Hiro and be utterly uninterested in the ladies, didn't he? Did Kokoro Delilah him straight with a more generic anime protagonist haircut? Is this what Kokoro meant when she said she wasn't the person everyone thinks she is, being in fact a secret master emotional manipulator?

Anyway, Char Alpha and the Nines (possibly also the name of a '50s rock 'n' roll band) have arrived now and doomed them all to a life of continued servitude (or worse). Hiro and Zero Two were too busy getting horny and drawing pretty pictures instead of letting their friends in on the real picture, so they end up having conversations they should have been having while they were alone in the presence of Il Papa's minions. Good going. Unless Alpha really is a CHAR and is now going to use his newfound forbidden knowledge to his own advantage against the Zabis the Catholic Church uh... them, is it?

So those allowed to become adults... are castrated before puberty to stop them from having kids and make them less emotional due to lacking sex hormones and therefore easier to control? Uhhh... There are a couple of rather prominent things about Nana that don't really add up about the puberty blocking in that case, but okay. Makes sense though, I mean if you asked me to draw up a blueprint for the total subjugation of humanity that's the kind of thing I would recommend. It's already something we do to animals for the same reasons, isn't it?

Spoiler: Episode 18

Finally. People really thought I WOULDN'T enjoy this episode? Do you even know me? Please, make me feel things. Enough of that fake happiness, emotionally wreck me and the characters. They obviously needed to be pushed until they broke, as someone who had been glancing at my watch for the last three episodes wondering when they were going to start fighting back against their oppressors, those final words are music to my ears.

I'm just going to accept that Kokoro x Mitsuru is (was) a thing at this point, because what's the use of trying to justify it or not now? Ikuno's honesty with Ichigo was a promising start to this episode though, it showed more of that real emotion and pain than we've seen in a while. I don't understand you Futoshi, and I don't know whether I should admire you or not. On the one hand, it seems admirable to be happy for someone else's happiness, even if it upsets you. On the other, I'm not sure you should expect (or force) yourself to feel happy for the person you love being happy loving someone else, if that makes sense. Which is why I'm of the opinion it's probably better to stop loving anyone who stops loving you. But then envy and covetousness are my foremost sins, it's not like I have anything against other people being happy, I'd just rather not see it.

And that explains things a bit better, so Nana and whatzizname were also Franxx pilots who were presumably brainwashed after puberty, hence the boobies. Alpha proves to be no Char, he's barely even a Glemy, the little bootlicker. You see now, Zero Two? All these CGDCT antics have made you weak, time to reawaken that fighting spirit.

 

[Geriatric hedgehog]

@Geriatric hedgehog getting that sweet D3 hype again, thank you!!

Ha, nice one! I'm finding so far that it is probably my favourite of the three. But don't get your expectations up in case you hate it heh. Love that gameplay though, great fun.

And now back to mecha! With you both on the Franxx OPs, count them amongst my favourites (of which I have many heh, as I'm a big fan of nicely constructed opening/closing credit sequences).

The song was actually composed specifically for the show, so it aims to capture the feel the story in some way.

Nicely matched music with the further bonus of being written with the show/movie in mind really helps elevate the latter. My most memorable ones have been Last Stardust by Aimer from Unlimited Blade Works (played during a brilliant scene in the Shiro/Archer showdown where I thought to myself, sod the cynical criticism of Shiro's retarded idealism, I love this show, FIGHT ON!!), anything from Hikaru Utada and the Eva rebuilds (but the third movie's theme in particular was fantastic) and again Utada's corker of a song, Good Night, used in the credits of Penguin Highway (though I don't think that was written specifically for the movie?).